Blowing the Whistle on the New 'Bio-Economy'
On November 26th in Montreal, the Earth Grab public forum broke the story about a global trend that is now threatening the planet: the new 'bio-economy.' Organized by Inter Pares and civil society colleagues, farm leaders from Canada and the global south discussed its impacts – and blew the whistle on it.
As fossil fuel reserves are running low, the world’s biggest corporations are rushing to grab and convert living plant matter – called biomass – into fuel, chemicals, and other profitable products. Corn and sugarcane are already being converted to biofuels on a large scale, but trees, grasslands and algae could be next.
Worth trillions, this new bio-economy is far from being green, and it won’t feed people or stop climate change. Just as the demand for corn ethanol led to higher food prices and hunger, the massive biomass-grab will have devastating consequences for people and our environment, here and in developing countries.
The public forum featured:
- Eric Chaurette, Inter Pares, Panel Moderator
- Ibrahim Coulibaly, farm leader, COPAGEN (Mali)
- Iderle Brénus, farm leader, Papaye Peasant Mouvement (Haiti)
- Jim Thomas, author of the ground-breaking report The New Biomassters, ETC Group (Canada)
- Cathleen Kneen, chair of Food Secure Canada
Inter Pares’ counterpart Ibrahim Coulibaly, farm leader from Mali and representative of COPAGEN, explains how an unprecedented landgrab is forcing hundreds of farmers off their lands.
Watch all eight videos of the forum
Presented by Food Secure Canada and Inter Pares in collaboration with: Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, Development and Peace, ETC Group, GRAIN, Greenpeace, National Farmers Union, Peoples Food Policy Project, The Ram's Horn, Union Paysanne, and USC Canada.
| Reviewed February 1, 2011 |  |
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